


System Restore

by LostInQueue



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Artificial Intelligence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dopheld and Hux are customer service reps, Drinking, F/M, Futuristic, Kylo Ren Has Issues, Light Angst, Mostly Crack, Rey Needs A Hug, Rey is sure hes a robot, Robots, Shopping, Trying to be a hero, mind tricks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-21
Updated: 2020-02-08
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:21:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,626
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22352506
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LostInQueue/pseuds/LostInQueue
Summary: It’s 2317. The need for artificial intelligence is at an all time high.Bots have been made and created to serve the people. Aid with their needs, their protection for all people, regardless of their status.Kylo Ren oversees most of the operation at SNOKE Industries, keeping an eye out for machinery to help him with the entire length of his left arm that had been badly mangled since birth. He also fears for his eyesight, planning to replace it next after his latest fight with the owner. He’d fix his problems and be done with them.It’s what he was good at anyway.Leaving with what he wanted.Only...there's this... girl...
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Ok, nudging this in here first because, honestly ksco went above and beyond for me and made the brilliant moodboard for this story. I just -oof- cannot get my mind wrapped around how well she knocked it out of the water. So HUGE thank you to her and please, please, please go check her work out here:
> 
> https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ksco/pseuds/Ksco 
> 
> Next up: This has been a morphing idea for months now that I had chatted about with @FicReylo (Reylo Fic Prompts) on Twitter about months ago. I can share the initial prompt if anyone is interested in doing a crack (or whatever type) fic you'd like. It is totally 100% up for grabs. 
> 
> Also, I'm offering fan art for moodboards. If you have the time and can think of something that would just go with this, let me know and we'll chat about a "thank you" piece. <3 
> 
> Annnnd just a list of screen names so that I dont lose these:
> 
> Dopheld: DM001  
> URDARZNITHR0SHT2: Rey (Do you get it?)

[ ](https://ibb.co/5W4h4zz)

_“N-n-no! No,” Rey ordered the chrome bot before her. Last year’s model had been coded and marketed under the brand of ‘Storm’ claiming they were taking the world by storm now that the First Order had excelled far past its competition._

_It wasn’t like there was much of it though. The First Order had been doing well in terms of making consumer ready bots for centuries now. Last year’s model offered multiple types of alloys protecting the outer shell including the chrome body of several hundred in the field as medical technicians. They claimed it was for cleanliness._

_“Don’t scan me!” Rey continued, glaring at the bot as if it were alive._

_A flutter of beeps signified its completion._

_“Really? I said don’t.”_

_The problem was that Rey didn’t have insurance. If they scanned her she’d be charged for not having it regardless of whether the bot treated her or not. In some cases it was far more to pay for than what the procedure would cost. This visit… this… this was not the visit! She wasn’t even here for herself, she claimed anyway._

_Her body most clearly said differently. Heavy gauze had been obvious and tainted with deep bronze spots signifying she’d bled there at some point and the bot seemed against accepting that it hadn't been a past occurrence._

_The lifeless being looked her up and down once again claiming she needed to be treated in its oddly humanly way. It wasn’t necessarily that she hadn’t come to accept these nuances but being raised by a shotty, late twenty-ninth century bot had her wondering why they didn't all sound like that. Sure the beeps and whistles and formalities could get frustrating to listen to at times but if one more chrome dome mouthed off at her about being hurt - something they truly couldn’t understand, she was going to have to short some circuits._

_How?_

_She wasn’t sure._

_It was considered an offense to tamper with artificial intelligence. They were “seen as people too” which made her hate them more. How could something that wasn’t alive be seen as a person? It just seemed wrong. And how could she be the only one that felt this way? Surely people as financially unstable as she were could have seen some sense to the uprising ahead of them… or was it all the fanfiction she’d been reading? Maybe her fears were ridiculous, but it didn’t mean she had to like them._

_“You don’t have permission to -“ Rey’s jaw dropped further trying her best not to say ‘ow’ when the prod of its metal hook sliced into her arm trying to pull her wraps from them._

_That was a four hundred and fifty credit word. No matter how horribly awful she felt swearing in front of a crowded room, anything was better than ‘ow’._

_It didn’t matter though, the sight of her now rosy tinted skin blossoming into an oozing bloody mess had been enough to charge her._

_“I’m not paying for that. You caused it,” she hissed as she turned away from it._

_It wasn't the first time something like that had happened either. She snapped a picture of the bot, collecting it’s serial number etched into the forearm while a make and model was found on the rounded cover of it’s shoulder. There was controversy on why this was done, and yet Rey still believes it was so that in events like these, they couldn't be reported for malfunction._

_The ones made for home had been known to collapse if they missed their charging stations, but it was rare now thanks to their charging stations and the little backup battery capsules in their midsections rather than alongside their processing units, all aligned in their heads and down the spine._

_These however were in the field which meant they were durable and could rectify a situation… and Rey seemed to always find herself to be a situation._

______________

_Present Day_

______________

There simply isn't enough booze to help her forget tonight’s attempt at being social. 

There just isn't. 

Her latest match had her meeting up with some hotheaded dirtbag who said all the right things at first, made her feel like she was special only to get her out and brag that he _knew a guy_ that could make her into the perfect woman. He’d gone on about how she was too thin or her chest did not bounce when she walked, or her hips didnt sway in _that feminine way_ making her hope that the remains of the rum had been enough to help her sleep soundly. If she could only drown her memories so they’d never speak of this again, she’d be grateful, but no matter what the faces would spin, slurring their horrendous observations until she began believing them. 

Shards of glass still lay in the corner of the room where she threw another bottle just last week to try silencing them, but it never seemed to. The loud pop of hollowed glass, then the raining shards fell, scattering across the hardwood floor, Rey vividly remembered. 

She’d pick it up when she was good and ready, she promised herself, like it was a necessity - just not one that had a time value to it. 

Tonight though, after she’d emptied the latest bottle, she held the decorative glass to her chest as if it could anchor her to the couch. 

There the voices got louder. 

Their eyes raked over her just like the bots did and again she’d had enough, gripping the neck of the bottle Rey whipped the heavy thing through her house before hitting the door with a loud grunt like thump. Her last thought was that she hadn't thrown it hard enough and would try again tomorrow before she fell asleep awkwardly on the arm of her couch.

. . . 

Later that night she woke with a start finding herself still in her living room. An eerie silence stretched throughout the place making her jumpy. Usually something was on, the fan, the hum of her lights, even the crickets outside were far louder at this time of night, so why was it that she could truly hear nothing now?

Did something happen?

Immediately her mind drifted to the bots. 

Did they rise up? Did they try taking over? She wondered about this a lot actually, making it entirely difficult to get over without turning on her television to find out. 

It was faint, a passing shadow, really, that had her gasp. Rey found herself first promising the shadow that no matter if it was that of a spider or a human being, that she would fire for breaking in and entering. She blinked back the panic of it all and turned quickly to see the form of a very large man standing stock still behind her. 

“W-who the ell are you?!” she slurred, trying to push the man back and away from her. 

First she noticed just how big he was and next it registered just how strong too when she went to throw him down. Most men she’d encountered were easily thrown, but not him… it had her panicking, wondering if that meant there was a bot in her home!

  
  


. . . 

  
  


“Doph?” his ginger partner asked for his attention across the open cubicle from him.

“Do not say _‘in’_ . If you call me _‘dolphin’_ one more time tonight, I’m taking a half day and you can do this shit on your own, _Arm_.” Dopheld said raking his fingers through his long dark hair before pulling it back into a man bun. 

“Me call you _a_?” Armitage watched Dopheld reach to press a few buttons on his keyboard signifying shutting down when Armitage finally processed just how sucky this night would be on his own. “Okay, okay… don’t get your panties in a twist. I’m just…”

“Bored, _I know._ But sitting and waiting is our job. Find something else to do,” he said reclining in his chair, startled back to his screen to see some weirdo put in a ticket without the bot’s stats, make, model, and serial number. It was a requirement to even be registered within their system, and yet whoever it was now had Dolphed’s attention. 

He leaned back towards his keyboard typing back to the individual and muttering over his shoulder at Armitage that they had a live one before hitting send. 

**DM001:** Thank you for contacting SNOKE Industries.   
Before we can get started, i'll need your bot’s stats,   
make, model and both the serial and registration numbers. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** No. just take whatever you sent me back. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Check your records and take it back. 

**DM001:** We have no one under _“URDARZNISTBSHT2”  
_ within our records. Can you please give another form   
of identification. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** No. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I know what you sleazeballs are   
trying to do. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** get my info so you can send me   
more shit? I don’t want it. I’m perfectly fine with my normal   
life doing normal things without being babysat by your   
creepy human looking bots!

Armitage pulled up a chair while Doph read off the weiro’s responses, clapping his hands with excitement, clearly because this was really _it_ for them. Otherwise it was explaining how to charge their unit, or why their eyes wouldn’t focus or the commands they’d have to use of caring for their unit so that it would allow the human to access actions. Self sustaining artificial intelligence was exactly what the company strives for, so that the general public didn’t have to fuss over their care units.

“What do you think? Chick or dude?” Armitage nearly squealed with delight before Doph answered.

“Chick,” he muttered. “When’s the last time you heard a dude say ‘creepy looking’ in terms of the designs we sell?”

“True… true…” he returned with a sigh, thinking that maybe riling her up was a bad idea. “Can you tell if she’s on a phone or a laptop?”

Doph types a secret code into the side of his chat box, scanning for the item in use. While she wasn’t willing, they were able to gain access to everything in the phone, including the use of said item, which meant, they could also see her. 

“Says _Rey Sanders_ ,” Dolphed scanned for information they could actually use while Armitage nearly purred at the sight of her. 

“How’s a pretty little thing like her…”

“Can you go be a pervert somewhere else? This isn’t some pick up line,” the man huffed. 

“Uh-huh. You can’t tell me she doesn’t look delicious.”

“That is not the point…”

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** This thing better not be   
scanning me.

**DM001:** How long has it been with you?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** ha ha like you don’t know.

**DM001:** Ma’am I need to know if it’s a rogue   
bot or a defective unit. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Ma’am? I didn’t say anything   
about my gender. You scanned me didn’t you?”

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** consider the charges reversed. 

**DM001:** charges? 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Your company has no respect   
for me or common people. I say don’t scan me and   
you scan me anyway! 

**DM001:** what does that have to do with charges? 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** every scan costs money! My most   
recent cost nearly five grand - thanks to you I’m living   
off of cereal! 

“Bring up her scan record,” Armitage spouts beside Dolph.   
  
Doph sighs and does what he asks, the side screen filling with everything that's happened to her since birth. As the wheel spins he regrets to inform her that they’re in the process of bringing up her history. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** You’ll be there a while. 

Sure enough, they were. Even with the power their company possessed it still took longer than anticipated. Usually it would be a two second procedure, and this, well, the estimated time hadn't even shown up. 

  
  


**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** while you're waiting, what do   
I have to do to shut this thing off?

**DM001:** off?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** You know, power down. Make it so   
it stops scanning me permanently because I _know_ it is. 

**DM001:** what model is it? 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** it’s clearly not something you’re   
selling yet.

**DM001:** all models have their numbers on the shoulder.   
They are clearly marked for safety.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** if that’s so, then why’d you clothe it? 

“We don’t dress the units…” Dolph said checking the log to finally see a number appear. 

“Tell her to scan the unit so we can get on with this,” Armitage suggested. 

Doph does and it takes another ten minutes of her ranting to finally get her to agree to use her phone to do it. It took processing refunds for the most recent payments over, he promised her, were the dumbest scans he’d ever seen. 

**DM001:** we’ll get to the bottom of the obsessive   
scanning, ma’am, but right now I just need you to   
point the camera lens at the unit and we’ll be able   
to schedule pick up for it. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** alright.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** and thank you. 

Several seconds later she’d switched the camera from her face, which she snorted at making Dopheld grimace a little. 

**DM001:** Sorry. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Uh huh. Get a good show? 

**DM001:** Show?

The girl didn't answer, instead she panned her camera up the unusually large sized unit before her, first showing that it was, in fact, dressed like she claimed. It’s wardrobe suggested it was a male model, large. Dressed in dark wash jeans, he caught, but not the shoes. They’d have to pan back for a full report if the culprit was in fact an intruder instead of a piece of machinery. Next he noticed the rim of what looked like a watch reflecting in the light of her phone, covered by what looked like a thick metal cuff tightly capturing it’s wrist suggesting there was a struggle to get it there. 

They could only assume the same for the other side of it, surprised at her strength and perseverance. Bots were not made for resisting and certainly not easily overpowered while active.

“What do you make of this, Armitage?” 

Doph’s co-worker could only shake his head. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this bef—“

The men’s brows furrowed as the camera showed some sort of contraption she had this large form braced in before finally resting on its pained face. 

Dopheld quickly typed why it was blindfolded, then rescinded it, wanting to know for sure but positive that she’d say it was scanning her. He’d stayed for several more moments trying to figure out what to ask first when Armitage gasped, recognizing then placing the markings on his jacket. 

“ _Kylo_?”


	2. Chapter 2

Armitage is the first to cover his mouth covering what at first sounded like soft curses which eventually broke out into a fit of laughter. 

“This…” he tried speaking through it. “This… this!” Tears pricked the corners of Armitage’s eyes while his sides absolutely burned during the humorous assault. His lungs heaved through bursts of it trying to reclaim the constant flow of air they once were promised by every inhale. 

Dopheld’s shock had been short-lived pulling his attention from the screen to his co-worker who had collapsed off his rolling chair.

Armitage still struggles to regain his own control, coughing out a list of terrible ideas Kylo’s had over the years, but following some girl home and getting in her apartment - now  _ that _ was rich. 

“Oh! Oh! I can’t imagine how he even agreed to this, because, well - you’ve seen her. She’s a tiny little thing…” 

“She’s not  _ that _ small,” Dopheld countered. “Remember that girl from accounting? Now  _ she was small  _ and got right in his face—“

“Oh! I remember her. That one was a loose cannon. Didn’t she claim,” Armitage hushes his volume and brings a stray folder to his face before speaking again, “conspiracy?”

Dopheld raised his eyes to look right up at the camera angled at the far corner of the ceiling above them, deciding against getting involved in speculation. 

“I don’t care what it was,” he cleared his throat. “But what do you make of this? I mean...he’s locked down on some table? Who the hell has a table like that?”

“ _ That girl does _ ,” he hisses out a breath when he sits back up as if it took all his strength to get back up. “I wonder what lengths she’ll go through to find the information we need,” Armitage says while wiggling his eyebrows.

It took Doph a long moment to consider his options. First there was the option of getting back at Kylo for switching his hours from day to night… because who honestly can sleep during the day when the sun is out? And well, for every time Kylo’s called him out on his case assignments… even if he was doing his job better than - ok, he’ll say it - better than the whole floor combined. There was just a knack he had for talking people through home use issues that Armitage, nor anyone else actually attained from their training. Call it “bedside manner” it was just something he had that put him apart from the crowd. But no matter his skill, Kylo always happened to knock him down a peg or two with each passing day. Then again, he still had a job and night shift  _ did  _ pay better than during the day… 

Armitage had been no help, dying for an answer like a child begging for dessert. His face was so close, whispering terrible ideas into Dopheld’s ear and enough was enough. 

“No,” he said finally.

“What do you mean, no?” Armitage looked down at him as if he’d just been burned. “This is our chance!”

“Yeah, it’s our chance alright,” he snorted, leaning back into the keyboard to type out his message. “It’s our chance to get fired.”

Of all the things that should have silenced Armitage that wasn’t one of them. 

“What if - OH! What if we transfer her to Kylo’s. Say it’s the acting manager that handles the REN technology?” his eyes lighting up with mirth. “That way you dont get caught with your screen name and all, and I don’t get slammed with mine either. It’s a win-win!”

Doph shakes his head. 

“We can’t. His door is probably locked and by the way that she’s been going on, I think she’s going to wheel him down here before we can take advantage,” he assures him. 

“Just say it. Tell her… Dopheld… man… do it for the sake of this shitty night. Please tell me we can at least have a little fun.”

It took a few more moments with Rey slightly slurring into the speaker until Dopheld caved. 

“Just don't do anything shitty.”

Armitage could only give his famous ‘ _ Who do you think you’re talking to? _ ’kind of look before typing out that  **DM0001** would be transferring all of his findings to  **REN** .

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** REN?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** So that’s it then - you’re done   
with me? Can’t seem to figure out how to keep your   
units in check so you pass us off to the next SOB   
down the list. 

“This night is only going to get better, love,” Armitage mumbles as he overrides his own workstation, becoming Kylo himself as REN. “Time to see what damage we can do.”

“Don’t call it damage…” Dopheld leaned back in his chair. 

Instead of responding, Armitage began typing, smirking as he went:

**REN:** Good evening,  _ URDARZNITHR0SHT2. _ I’ve come   
to understand you’ve had quite a night. I can say SI   
apologizes for your misfortune tonight. I’m sure it’s   
been a frightening one. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** You could say that.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Being followed around by some giant,   
life-like service bot’ll do that.

**REN:** I can only imagine. 

**REN:** Again, SI is sorry for this. I see you’ve restrained it.   
Can I ask how?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** This tech is soft, sloppy if you will.   
It doesn’t feel like one. Made it easier to take down. 

**REN:** Can you go into detail with that?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Why? It’s captured. That’s what matters. 

**REN:** Scientific purposes miss. We need to know if it was hostile. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** No. Not hostile. Confused, I think. Who   
programs a bot with confusion? It hasn’t been quiet either.   
It keeps wanting it’s release, like that’s gonna happen.

**REN:** Is it trying to get out?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** it’s been in there awhile. I don’t think  
it “cares” anymore. 

**REN:** Define cares. This is also for research purposes.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** It’s just laying there like he’s   
been defeated.

**REN:** Alright, one more question about referencing it’s model, since you brought it up. You’ve called it a man by referencing it’s features. Can you elaborate on how you’d feel in its presence if it was in fact a man?

“Oh my god,  _ Armitage _ ,” Dopheld moaned. “You’re going to get us fired…”

“Give it a rest you big baby…” 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** You made it look like this,   
didn't you? It looks like a man. A big, bulky thing   
that couldn't possibly be part of your initial concept. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Like it’s for something else…

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Something...dirty. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** MIGHTMAKEROFTHESTARS DID  
SI MAKE A SEX BOT?? IS THIS THE SHIT YOU’RE SENDING  
NOW??

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** BECAUSE I SWEAR I’LL TAKE YOU   
ALL DOWN. EVERY LAST ONE OF YA IF YOU SENT THIS TO   
ME - YA FUCKS ARE WATCHING ME ALL THE TIME!!  
I WOULDN’T BE SURPRISED IF YOU DID. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** THAT’S IT I’M GETTING A LAWYER!!

“Fuck, **Armitage!** _ Shut it down!” Dopheld hissed.  _ He stood quickly flinging his chair behind him as he went. “I told you this was a bad idea! 

**REN:** Relax Ms. Sanders. It’s nothing of the sort. 

“Recheck her log. She admitted to resorting to eating cereal. And no one is stupid enough to go against SI. We’re fine,” Armitage assured his co-worker who kept pacing around the room.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** What Is it then? A mistake?  
Because this looks like a  _ huge _ mistake. 

**REN:** It seems that way, but I assure you it isn’t. 

**REN:** It looks as though you were given this type   
for support.

“ _Support?!”_ Doph shook Armitage’s chair. “You need to log off man.”

**REN:** Judging by your file and the most recent   
data collected, you said you wanted it. Someone   
to help you. Is that not right?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Someone. As in a person.   
Not another thing to… he’s moving again. Did   
you do something?

Armitage’s lips pressed into a thin line before popping back open with a perfect response. 

**REN:** Running diagnostics, that’s all.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Did you want to tell me   
before doing it?

**REN:** My apologies, Miss.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** At least someone there   
knows how to apologize…

“Are we serious? Did I not?” Dopheld questions him with his arms thrown forward. His long sleeve, grey polo hung from him haphazardly, showing a thin white undershirt just beneath it. 

Armitage casually looked over his shoulder to tell him to relax and fix himself. 

“Company policy,” he said.

“Don’t company policy me…”

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** He’s struggling again. 

**REN:** What’d you do to make him stop last time. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Threw a bottle at it. 

Armitage cracked and did his best not to leave her hanging.

**REN:** Don't throw things at the hardware.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Don't send stuff I don’t   
want. 

**REN:** Right. Do I need to send the log to jog your memory?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** …

**REN:** Let's move along, shall we? I need you  
to find the model number on it’s left shoulder   
before we can proceed. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** And how would you like   
me to remove its clothes to get to it? It’s cuffed   
to the table...

**REN:** I’m sure you’ll think of something. 

——

The first thing Kylo notices when he comes too is the awkward way in which he’d fallen asleep. He thinks he’s standing, which would honestly be the first time he’d done that. There were enough of his mother’s events that he’d fallen asleep at that he’d leaned against a wall or door frame long enough that he’d been able to find rest there. Kylo rolls his eyes at this then notices he can’t lift his eyelids without feeling some sort of cloth wrapped around him. This is a huge no for him. Losing his vision is the most frightening thing for him and whatever this cloth is, it has to go. He had not yet signed off on a day or time for that particular surgery, now that he thinks about it. 

Another moment passes where he wonders if it was just done for him. He had brought it up enough times… what if Snoke finally followed through on it? What if this was recovery he was waking up to. 

Kylo went to move his right hand only to feel the cold bite of metal registering against his regenerating skin, unaware of the restraints found there. 

“What the  _ fuck _ ?” he muttered lowly. Kylo moved his head quickly to the right to check, as if the cloth would somehow move off of him. 

It didn’t. 

This time he decided on moving his head back and forth to try to drop the scratchy material off of his face just to get an idea of where it was he actually was. 

His other senses had picked up on the fact that it wasn't sterile, which meant that if they were in a facility, it was certainly out of the way, or, he shuddered at the thought, in someone’s garage based on the smell of oil and grime alone. Several feet away he noticed the incessant noise of the clacking keyboard on a phone and cringed. Someone was there with him. Someone had him braced to a fucking table!

Kylo blinked back his fear… what if they were going to hurt him? 

The thought made him struggle more against the table, neither wrist moving much more than a few centimeters around the cuff of the steal clasped around him. As he tugged at them he also noticed his ankles were in the same predicament which made him thrash around. His body heaved and muscles began to ache while he moved, but nothing seemed to work. He was stuck…

“Begin transcription responses,” a woman’s voice commanded in the space. 

Kylo swallowed, his thoughts only able to return to the most recent memories of the night while he wondered just who that woman could be. 

“Turn off diagnostics, send,” she said, making him frown. 

What did she just say to him?

His patience grew thin but then he felt a hand press against his collar while another one found the thin zipper there. Gently it moved back down his body, snagging at several points that it had every time he’d used it, causing her to grunt a little, forcing it down the rest of the way. He’d noted just how hard she had to try to get it off. Kylo tensed when she gripped the bottom of his jacket in one hand and tried yanking it up to pull it swiftly down, but it’d gotten stuck once more making the girl swear.  _ Oh _ , did she swear too! He was almost certain that he could put her to shame but this surely did not feel like the time to do so. 

This rational moment didn't phase him either. He was a strategist afterall. Being one meant that he needed his wits about him and while Kylo was known for flying off the handle at the dumbest of things, being strapped to a table in some stranger’s place didn't seem like the time to talk.

Next he registered the cold biting at his dress shirt. Was it possible that this person had no concept for heat - because it sure seemed that way! 

“Aren't you cold?” he asked her without realizing it left his lips.

Soon after he wondered if it really happened or not given the fact that she did not respond to him. Instead, her hands still traveled up the expanse of his chest smoothing out before trying her best to peel him out of it. Her small body began to press against him in a way he hoped he could become a little more - pliant. Kylo groaned at the constant pressure there, feeling the need to gyrate his hips forward into her waiting ones, only to get a quick shot to the ribs. He’d missed it. Her disgusted sound, the release of her hands, the quick rotation of her body and the landing of her bony elbow into his torso would have all been good to see so that he could brace for it, but why would he want to do that? 

“What is your problem?” he coughed, dying to shout at her instead of the whining weeze that came out. 

“You,” she growled. 

“You don't,” he gasped for air. “You don't even know me.”

“I know all I need to know about you,” she hissed. “I told you to shut down the system, send. Your sex bot just tried to advance on me, send.”

“Wait! What?”

He hears her read back the instant response on what sounds like her phone, only to reply with a notation of his shoulders being too large to remove the coat.

“You have this all wrong, lady. I’m no sex bot. Not even close,” he tried to assure her. 

“...Find another way, huh?” she mumbled. “Fine.”

“Find another way for what?” Kylo panicked. “Hey! Hey?” he began to shout loudly in the room he couldn't see. The thought came to him to get her to remove the cloth so that he could look at her, and so he asked. 

“Nope,” she replied, popping the “p” at the end.

“Do you not see how redundant this is? You have me cuffed to a table! My hands and feet! What the hell do I need a blind fold for?”

“I’m not reasoning with an object,” she replied plainly. 

“I’m no object you stupid bitch!”

“ _Oh good,_ we triggered the name calling. I wonder just how much I can get out of you before this complaint is filed, send.”

“What is wrong with you? What complaint?” he thrashed his head back and forth again revealing a sliver of his whereabouts to him. 

Kylo was right to a point at least. She wasn't from SI’s lab and certainly not in a clean facility at all. It actually looked more like he was in the district’s apartments they had installed decades ago to give affordable housing to those living in makeshift shelters. Although, this one didn't look anything like the ones that he was promised would be built. This one seemed to look as though she brought her outside junk with her. His eyes lowered to the floor around him finding a shattered bottle’s reminisce at his feet, wondering why the girl hadn’t cleaned it up yet, only to be pulled back to his initial concerns about who she was and what she was planning to do to him now. 

“Oh, you know, just the one where some rogue bot broke in and entered a woman’s apartment tonight. I mean, yeah, you’re really striking out on all levels here.”

Kylo’s brow furrowed. 

Rogue bot? None of them did that sort of thing. The software alone couldn’t support natural nor spontaneous thought. 

“Wait. Me?” he asked incredulously. “I’m not a robot, I can assure you.”

“Uh huh, explain your arms and unnatural strength.”

Silence filled the room then. 

Kylo’s banding technology circled his arms from the shoulders down to his wrists as protection giving him the strength to get through his day but not much more. It was recent, not sound, but what else could he do? His arms were gangly and nothing quite like the rest of his body - last he’d seen them that is.

“What about my arms?”

He notes the way she huffs a sigh but doesn’t answer. Instead she moves away from him, he thinks, but then returns with,  _ oh fuck what is that? _

—-

**REN:** What are you doing?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I can’t get it off without   
slashing the seam.

The hint of what looks like a small, yet potentially deadly weapon, glints at the screen. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Don’t worry. I won’t hurt   
your precious thing. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I got him in here unscathed,   
you know. 

**REN:** This is going to sound horrible, but I don't  
exactly trust you. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** You don’t have to. 

Rey begins pressing the blade into the jacket’s sleeve to get to the code knowing full well she’ll have to do the same for the sleeve, if she cared at that point. There was enough going on, plus the sobering feeling her body had been going through all night to support the notion that she wouldn't, in fact, damage their goods, but they didn't need to know that. Not the way that this night was going. 

She hummed successfully when the tip of her blade nicked off a load bearing thread, helping it along as she hit several more. A small grin began to stretch across her face as their little experiment continued to bitch and moan about “his” items. 

“You act like you own this. Like you know what a possession is when the truth is you’re someone’s thing,” she purred beside him. 

“I am no one’s thing,” he hissed, grabbing hold of the inside of her closest thigh in retaliation. 

Her surprise was evident. There should have been no way that he could have angled himself to get her given the thick grips she had installed after the last bot she caught skulking around, but he did. His...hand… if she could really call it that felt oddly warm, unlike the claws that she referred to in other models. Not that they ever grabbed her quite like this but she couldn't help but allow the thought trickle through her that this might not be what she’d originally imagined. What if - no that’s crazy…

“Let go of me,” she hissed. 

“Stop ruining my clothes! This jacket was my father’s,” he growled. 

“Robots don't have fathers, they have creators. Get your facts straight.”

“I’m not a robot!” Kylo thrashed around again making the knife slip and tear at the cloth underneath his jacket, revealing the metal bands to her.

“Bullshit. Get your hand off of me before I chop off something a little more important,” she warned. 

Kylo’s brow furrowed once more, moving the cloth just so that oddly revealed more of her making him gasp. 

“That’s what I thought.”

His hand slowly released her without so much as a lingering fingertip to brush against her skin. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** No model number.   


  
**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Explain.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I’ve been a little behind in posting updates on all things. My son has been dealing with a couple of bad eggs at school and it’s honestly been tiring being the only adult ready to make a change. 
> 
> This chapter change drastically and I think it has to do with me trying to regain my ground and remember what it is to fight for something I believe in while keeping an open mind to the details of my son’s surroundings much like Kylo does throughout the chapter. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy it.

Kylo’s seen her before. He knows that he knows her, that they’ve crossed paths at some point but even his mind is hazy. He blinks a few more times trying to let it register. Trying desperately to hold onto the thought that this could just be one huge misunderstanding, and yet nothing comes. 

It doesn't have anything to do with the fact that she’s back to typing out all of her responses… that she’s left him there again. It doesn't have anything to do with the obscene things she’s spit at him through what he could only imagine is rage. Nothing, absolutely nothing makes sense about what is going on here… nothing… 

Except… well… except her accent. 

Did she work for him? Did they know each other outside of this? 

“Why does my head hurt?” he grumbled. 

“Maybe that whiplash you gave yourself has something to do with it,” she answered sarcastically. 

“Ha, ha,” Kylo found himself mouthing instead of actually giving life to it. 

“What do you go by?” she asked, surprising him entirely at the change of her tone. 

“What do you mean?” he asked nervously. 

Rey grumbled at her device once more, then added, “Whoever’s working tonight is full of shit - You don't have a code on you, do you?”

“I have a business card and an extension if that's what you mean, but no - I’m not like them,” he said quietly. 

“I meant your name. You know, like, I’m Rey Sanders, not that you couldn't possibly have already known that, what with your technology and all.”

“I’m Kylo Ren,” he answered. “CEO of Snoke Industries…” he says, silent for a moment more and he hears her typing furiously and for a moment he wonders if it stalls because the clicking stops and she responds again with another growl. “Can you release me? I have to use the bathroom.”

“You can't be serious…”

“I am,” his voice had been softer than it started, despite his frustration about the whole thing. Scaring this girl led to being strapped to something wielding a knife no less. He did not need to see what else this one was capable of. 

“Promise?” she questioned him. 

“I can promise that if I don't get out of here soon my bladder might explode…”

“And cause a fire?”

“Internally, I guess,” he laughed for the first time in what felt like ages. 

“Nuh, I’m serious. I still don't know who or what you are, or are made of, but I can be sure I drop you if you make me feel even a little threatened by you.”

Kylo sighed heavily, “No, no fires. No real explosions. I’m not actually built like that,” Kylo cringed at what he said… of course, just one more thing for her to scrutinize over. 

“But you are built…” she says and he can almost hear the spread of her grin. 

“I - can we do this later? I really need to…” he pleads and then she’s there. The warmth of her is what he feels first, then the release of the metal around his ankles and wrists… and as much as he wants to celebrate, he doesn't. 

When she removes the blindfold and his world starts to crumble all over again. 

It’s the girl from the banquet, he blinks several times then wipes his eye with the side of his wrist. His memory flashes before him in glimpses, only staying with him for a few seconds at a time before moving to the next thing. She was there, dressed in a simple champagne colored gauzy dress beside a man he’d only seen several times since becoming CEO. They were lower level engineers and scientists that had worked on projects parallel to his own but never mingled. He remembered the way she tried to force a smile, how she’d sneak desperate looks at the food that floated around on the waiter's shoulders, he could feel the way she wanted it but never took it. 

What she did would only angered him that night. She took the slanted humor. The shit that guy fed her about not being enough, about being able to change her made his skin crawl and his feet move. Before he could gather his thoughts he’d made it over to her with a small plate and two flutes of whatever they were offering at the time. 

Kylo didn't care, and by the looks of it, she wouldn't either.

The tone in his voice was clear, however the idiot she was with couldn't seem to take a hint. He watched her eyes widen and her head dip to her chest, silently begging for the night to be over. 

“The bathroom is through the hall. Soap’s on the rack above the toilet,” she muttered before moving away back to that ragged thing she’d been on before. Maybe thirty years ago it could have been considered a couch, but now it looked like a fire hazard. 

“Thank you,” he replied, carefully moving off into the darkness of her hallway. 

Her hallway was just as… well… there really weren't words for how this looked, not to him at least. She kept racks of things there, just stuff she could clearly put away somewhere, anywhere but didn't. At least it was on them, he thought, instead of just thrown on the floor where he could certainly mash something important with his huge foot, or trip and fall through a wall… because he was sure they were paper thin based on the way even the sheetrock looked to be peeling. 

How did someone so beautiful survive in this garbage heap? 

Kylo swallowed his thoughts when he found the closet sized bathroom. Her washer had been in the far corner, and he wondered where the drier was, if there ever was one at all. His eyes traveled from it to the toilet, then up to the rack just above it where he found the soap, several trinkets that looked as though they shouldn't be over a toilet of all things, so he went to take them out one by one and put them on the washer until he’d finished up.

Going had been just as if not more relieving than being unlocked from that contraption. Never could he remember having to go that bad, which brought him right back to remembering that night. 

Kylo recalls keeping a close eye on her and returned throughout the function each time he felt needed, offering food and drink to her whenever she was without that creep. He remembers how unrefined she was, which made him wonder if it was why she refused it. 

At dinner, he recalls how she asked for seconds only to be denied. Kylo went on to remember how she reminded him of himself when he’d be denied things and it ate at him. The more he thought about it, the more he entered his own mind, forgetting to keep tabs on her, and when he looked up again, she was gone. 

He’d stood abruptly, calling attention to himself at his table, that he can remember vividly, all the bewildered looks, and only being able to say excuse me before taking off too. Kylo stripped himself of his jacket, bowtie, and kicked off his shoes the moment he got back to the shelter of the garage, grumbling as he went. His thumb pressed the middle of his keyfob calling his car to him. The trunk popped and ready for him to throw his items haphazardly into it. It’s then when he snorts at the concept now thinking back to Rey’s hallway. He did the same.

Next he stripped off his dress pants, pulling his go-to dark wash jeans out of his side bag, the one he keeps with him so that he doesn't have to be trapped in these damned clothes for the rest of the night. Kylo remembers being teased for this since high school, but he was always so big and clothes were never made to fit him unless tailored and at the time - who really got their kid’s clothes tailored?

It had become his best way out. Changing, then leaving, so no one could pressure him back in. 

The moment he had his boots in hand, he was closing up the trunk and making his way to drive off into the night when he’d seen a flash of ivory… something light enough to catch his attention even there in that fluorescent garage. 

He repeated it to himself over and over again that it wasn't her, that it was his imagination, and yet, he’d been drawn to it, fastening the laces on both shoes to take off after her, leaving his car behind. 

Kylo moved quickly through the garage after it, finding her pulling the dress over her head to stuff in a backpack, only to realize she had done the same - to an extent. His heart hammered in his chest and died to know more. As pervy as he thought he was being for spying didn't mean much given she had been wearing a jumper of sorts underneath. The black fabric hugged her all the way up to cover her chest just below that slight v neck in her dress, all the way down her legs, just past her knees making him wonder if this was a regular occurrence. 

Was she always around?

“Hey are you okay in there?” he heard her ask from just beyond the door. 

“Oh, uh… yeah,” he answered, trying to make light work of flushing and returning her things to their rightful places. “Do you, ah… have anything to reduce a headache?” he quickly recovered himself before opening the door to her. 

“Not exactly. Best I’ve got is a sock of ice,” she answered pitifully, making him frown. “But if you get going there’s a shop a few blocks down that opens in about an hour…”

“I’m free?” he asks quietly. 

“It’ll look bad, don’t you think? Kidnapping the CEO of SI, even if he’s—“

“He is not... _ I’m not.  _ My arms… they’re just protection. I promise, I’m not like that, or them.”

He watches her nod then hears her add, “Then be careful out there.” 

_ What was that supposed to mean?  _

“Okay,” he answered her unsure now of what he’d agreed to until he found himself on the other side of her apartment door. 

Kylo blinked back his frustration. He’d been with her tonight, in her apartment, being blamed for the most ridiculous things and when he happened to show a shred of humanity, she backed off. Did she remember him? If she did, she did a real lousy job of showing it. How couldn't she have? He questioned himself, refusing to leave her door. 

Kylo tried desperately hard to remember, the nagging pain behind his eye began to throb as he did but began getting an image. The memory had been blurry to say the least, but as he pressed on to focus he could see her head off into another place unlike this one. It didn't look like much from the outside, or inside for that matter but the one thing he watched her grab was an unmarked jug of sorts, and make off through the back as if it were nothing. He continued watching her form move through the space, constantly stopping and checking over her shoulder avoiding others, especially the Storm units spread out in every block. It was something he’d signed off on particularly for the safety of their city, unaware of how it looked in the people’s shoes. 

She made her way back sharing the jug as she went with another soul before moving on to what looked like her unit, that is, until she’d been approached. It’s when he’d seen himself following her, trying to stay out of sight but felt entirely too seen for comfort. She couldn't have known he was there. 

He can hear himself, cause a commotion, challenging the individual that had come at her weilding an unknown item, one he was sure could take her life if he didn't act at all. And then everything turned black. 

“Wait,” he muttered. “Wait, Rey?” Kylo found himself pounding on the door, this time more concerned about his location and why it was so dangerous here. 

She didn't answer though. 

Something about the way she said goodbye just moments before had left him unsettled, as if it would be the last time he’d see her. 

But when she refused to open her door, Kylo bit back his frustration wondering what it was he did wrong exactly. He’d only been looking out for her this whole time - it wasn't like he was playing some elaborate trick on her or--” Kylo paused, looking sharply in front of him with a new focus. 

There was more to know, so much more, and he was going to get to the bottom of it. 


	4. Chapter 4

“Well, that was the best three hours of my career,” Armitage rises from his chair, heading off in the direction of the vending machines. “You want anything?”

“If you’re paying—“ Dophled gagged on his tongue at the sight of Kylo’s figure stalking through the building. 

“You both are!” Kylo growled.

Armitage did his best to swallow his surprise, and failed. His breath shook while his body did, “What a pleas-sant s-su-prise.”

“I told you this was  _ stupid _ !” mouthed Doph. 

“Bring up everything you have on Rey,” he snarled as he made his way around their desks.

“Rey who?” Armitage asked, trying to play it cool. 

“The girl you two  _ idiots _ were fucking with tonight.”

“Sanders,” Dopheld added as he clear his throat. “You’re looking for Rey Sanders, sir.”

Kylo surged forward, his lips bent in a menacing scowl, moving ever so slightly when he’d grumble about the pair  _ only having one job. _

Dopheld brought up what he had on his screen, allowing him access to his chair as he got up. He watched as Kylo clenched and unclenched his fists on the desk before him. He noticed just how big they were and hopped, no prayed, that the man wouldn’t clobber him with them. 

Armitage stepped back. His shoes just barely made a sound on the short grey carpet found there until he turned and was gone. 

That bastard. 

He left!

Dopheld’s nerves began to quake which made it harder to think. He watched while Kylo scrolled through their conversation not finding it amusing at all, then again through her scan records. The more his eyes glued to the unheard of amount of scans… there were hundreds, no, thousands on record. All of which had been labeled as incisions or lacerations. A few came up as burns, classified as both chemical and something as trivial as sunburn. Her record went on to note that she was still alive, her records showing at the corner of the screen that she’s had no partners and maintains a somewhat liveable environment, which strikes him as odd. The cube as it was called in development was only to harbor important medical knowledge as in her vitals which should have taken up four cubes, on focused on each informative set, leaving two to calculate life expectancy and nutrition. Somehow, he knew the statement about only living on cereal was true just based on the way she loved. 

“Where’s the rest of it?” Kylo snapped. “This log only goes—you switched?”

Dopheld looked over his shoulder, away from the screen, when Kylo asked. Armitage was still nowhere to be seen and so, that bastard would go down with his ship. 

“Yes.”

“You know you aren’t supposed to switch. It’s company policy to keep all accounts with the same customer service unit in case of emergencies.”

“Yes, I know sir.” Dopheld dropped his head in defeat. 

“Then why did you?” Kylo growled.

“I didn’t know what to do when we asked to see the unit. When it was you?” Doph’s muscles seized on themselves out of discomfort under Kylo’s gaze. “Armitage said to pass it so he could handle it.”

It wasn’t necessarily a lie…

But it wasn’t the truth…

And he did truly believe he was going to die tonight, so, the glimmer of good news was that he didn’t and was still somewhat alive.

“Where’s the rest!?”

“Armitage’s computer,” he swallowed thickly, “As you.” Dopheld cringed, his whole body retreating to hold himself when Kylo stood to throw anything he could lay his hands on before turning back to him.

“Anything else?”

“I’m pretty sure he left to avoid this,” Dopheld added, watching Kylo’s every move as if he were a wild animal about to attack. 

“Find him! If he’s in the building he hasn’t gotten far considering his clearance,” Kylo snapped then moved to Armitage’s computer to bring up the logs of what he’d continued with. “He used my name?! That fucker is done!” Ben growled, the sound alone of him chasing Dopheld from view.

Their conversations between REN - Armitage and Rey had been unexpected to say the least. Who was he kidding? This whole night had been one colossal fuck up after another, Kylo huffed. 

He shut his eyes for a moment trying to steady his racing heart. Once he had it together enough to think, his mind wandered back to her, how angry she was, how the apartment reeked of booze and sort of smelled like a mixture of piss and vomit because of it. Not that he thought she might have anywhere but there was an ill defined stench there crying out to be cleaned within it, one he was dying to remedy himself, 

These were strange thoughts for this man, one who never learned to be domestic in any form of the word, now stared at the screen trying to come up with the best course of action. 

Eventually he found his way past the conversation he’d been allowed to hear, ending with her demanding to know why he hadn’t had a number on his arm. Kylo rolled his eyes at the thought knowing fully well why he wasn't marked, dumbly expecting the one behind his screen name to indulge her but instead got sidetracked into a conversation that suggested she should be fitted with armor like his. 

That was the wrong thing to say to anyone...it was indefinitely worse to be checking out a caller, even if she was out there on display. 

**REN:** What’s with the cuts all over your arms?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** What’s with this machine   
in my living room?

**REN:** I asked first. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** ...

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** No?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I called you! Which means  
I asked first. 

**REN:** Does it though?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** ...

Kylo had to smile at that. It is quite entertaining how much she stands her ground, how much she fights back. Rey had him going for a full page and a half about who began this conversation then landed him back enough steps for him to finally concede that it was, in fact, her. 

**REN:** So, are you going to tell me?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** ?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** if you don’t know,  
that’s on you. Your model is oddly familiar,   
I will say. 

**REN:** How so, if he was just dropped off   
that night?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I think I’ve seen it   
before. 

**REN:** Doubtful. Unless it was on the floor,  
there’s no way you would have come in   
contact with it otherwise.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** not true.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** I’ve seen plenty of  
models come out prior to their press   
releases. 

Kylo frowned at this. Could that mean she worked with them? 

**REN:** Prove it. Time, date, location,   
model and number? All fields required   
or you’re certifiably lying. 

That ticked him off. The girl didn’t seem like a liar and to call her out on a chat like that was the best way for people these days to sue. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** CPO unit. Found   
on the back of an unmarked van two weeks   
before it’s launch date fifteen years ago.   
I snapped a picture and men chased me for   
the camera but I got away. That night they   
were reissued a new name C3PO which I’ve   
always wondered if it was because three   
of SI’s men couldn’t catch me. Like they   
were part of a reminder not to fuck up. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** they claimed they   
gave it extra features past the several  
languages it was originally programmed   
with and an uncanny unlockable ability   
to tell you your probability in every task. 

**REN:** How would you know that? You   
were only four back then? 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** maybe branch out   
a little. I’m not nothing or no one because   
I don’t have what you do. Not all intelligence   
comes from you. 

Kylo read more about the other projects she spotted noting that she wasn’t wrong in any of the descriptions or why things changed to accommodate her findings. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** The REN or whatever   
you’re calling this is obviously hybrid tech-   
not something the world is ready for yet. 

**REN:** How do you figure?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** it’s too much like   
us. Too manly.

**REN:** I think you have it confused with   
another model.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** This body for starters   
is too natural. It leaves room for human error   
and therefore is unfit to be out. I can see his  
glitches from across the room and shouldn’t   
given how much I’ve had to drink. The way   
the synthetic skin under its eye twitches when   
it’s overprocessing is surely just a glitch. But   
what if that is an underlying issue? What if it’s   
a bug that can catch fire? Or report incorrect  
information? What if it starts flailing around   
and hurts someone or breaks shit?

What’s to keep it from cutting me? 

**REN:** what does that have to do with   
anything?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** plenty.

**REN:** …?

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Money, you twit. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** wouldn’t that be rich?   
Make in-home units that look like people but   
aren’t, ready to promote harm, scan, charge,   
then care for in cycles. There’s your SI   
exclusive! The one that will take over and   
ruin life as we know it!

**REN:** That’s not what we’re known for. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Isn’t it though? 

Kylo frowns at her log. So many of which were from fights that it had just become a normal thing to scan her. Daily, for years… this has been going on since she was a kid.

He continued on through more of her deflection only to catch Armitage’s question. It was as if he had a change of heart. 

**REN:** What do you mean, cut you?

He can almost hear her, now in the silence of the main floor, despite his racing thoughts. She must have made that little sound then, the one his mother used to make when his father said something stupid. 

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** For making   
property of SI I’d expect you to be   
smarter.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Every day people  
are violent because scans offer 10% of the  
find to the rat. 

His mind screams at him. It’s why she treated him like one, his thoughts rewind quickly through her apartment, everything she did, everything she said, the bottle she threw at him and probably didn’t realize… the fact she thought she was alone, back out into the hallways, the fight that ensued. 

The color drained out of his face making him cold with worry that SI made this possible. The fear she clearly lived with but buried in anger, in her sarcasm and drowned with liquor. 

He blinked back at the image Armitage had of her living room, catching the way she moved around it. He’d eyed the most recent scratches, the stained cloth piled on the couch next to where she’d been sitting making him want to change this but how? She returned with a bowl of what looked like pellets and a small bottle of hot sauce. 

Kylo remembered the thing she said about “living off cereal” and cringed. 

“Don’t do it,” he said at the screen as if he could change the prerecorded state. 

Rey sat back down, messages flying back and forth about her tastes in food with REN continued until she dumped a good amount to cover it saying something about trading for things that get her through the day because life here isn’t something to dream about.

**URDARZNITHR0SHT2:** Life’s a marathon   
in a day down here. Nothing else. 

It’s more than enough, he thinks, yet still has the conversations downloaded and sent to his phone along with all of her records. It was time to do something about this. But first… first he’d care for her. 

—-

Going to the store was something for his staff to do. Not him. In fact, being in the market wasn’t something he’d done since he was a child. Being out did keep him on his toes though, his conversations with Rey and reading over what had transpired stayed raw on his mind. Fear settled over him deeply, like an open wound. What if he became a target?

He noticed looks from civilians, those he regarded as Rey’s level, some with attending help units and others lurking as if they were planning an attack. It seemed obviously wrong and more certainly that he was on their list - if they had one. 

Kylo made sure to make eye contact with one of them as they passed, reaching for items he knew would help Rey. Medicine, pain relief, and new gauze was of the arm full he dumped into the cart on top of the food items he’d gotten while the patron he passed disappeared from view. Several more, including children and what looked like a ball but could have been an animal had gathered in front of him pleading for help, an act he couldn't have imagined meant an ambush, but their still bodies said otherwise. 

Neither one raised their hand to reach for credits, if he were to offer them, that is. Instead he turned to see several men behind him. One and then the next had lunged for him. Makeshift blades glinted in the store lighting before kicking his jacket. In the panic of the moment, he misses the way that the children flee or when the bots make it down the isle, replacing their spots. 

Each person is scanned for injuries while they scream not to be. 

In all honesty, it's disturbing. 

The worst is when one of the Storms looks his way to scan him but stops. He expects the entire unit to stop - and it does, making this far less comfortable that it started as. 

“You will not scan them,” he states in a clear, even tone. 

The first which stopped initially tilts its head to the side then back up as if it had the ability to decide on its course of action, then repeats, “We will not scan them.”

People on the ground brace themselves for what might come next, as if it could be worse than being thrown. 

“You will leave these people alone unless they seek you out.”

Again, it shifted then shuffled its feet, before responding to the command. 

“We will leave these people alone unless they seek us out.”

Silence… it was silence, not cheering as if it seemed it could have been, but silence that covered them like a wet blanket. Kylo moved through the rest of the store, collecting everything he needed before making a considerable donation to cover not only his purchase but that of all the food found there. 

It was both an act of kindness and one made in desperate need of getting out of there and not followed. The last thing he needed was to get Rey into any more trouble. He’d already found out more than he needed, more than she needed, but would she want it? Would she care about it more than food? More than supplies? What if she knew and was living like she was to avoid what he just experienced?

It would be an understatement if he said he didn't feel the eyes on him while he left because they were there. If they could be under his skin, they would be. 

Finally reaching her door, Kylo reached out to knock on it, hearing what sounded like a squad inside, rummaging through the death trap she already lived in. Perhaps it was for her… to find her, to harm her? Kylo searched his surroundings for a place to hide in the event that whatever was in there came out and found him. His commands only worked on those his level and below him. What if… what if this was something more?

Opening the door to find him there with groceries seemed like a death trap to both her and the girl… one that clearly didn't need another. 

Eyes appeared down the darkened hall from him, several of them in fact. Ones that not only looked spooked but starved as well. 

He looked down at his bounty and offered whatever was in the two in his left hand, keeping the bandages, pain medicine, and proteins she would need to replenish herself with in the other, seeking refuge there. He moved quickly in the sound of the knob turning, hoping he wouldn't be caught, only to find a small pair of hands grab his wrist to pull him in their door. 

The unit he suspected burst into the hallway cursing about the filth first then that rat he could only imagine they were referring to Rey. Anger bloomed in his heart. They had no reason to call her such things. 

“Find her! We can't have that little monster destroying our image!”

**Author's Note:**

> This was the original concept. I dont know why I cant get it any smaller so if thats annoying - keep scrolling, hah.
> 
> [](https://ibb.co/YWwx9kX)  
> 
> 
> But if you are looking, you can see how this TOTALLY morphed from its original intent to this story! Big thanks to Reylo Fic Prompts for continuing to chat with me through the initial idea process, which I honestly wish I could find, but sadly cannot at this moment. I'll keep scrolling but... 
> 
> dot, dot, dot is right...


End file.
